Staying inspired over a long period of time is not the easiest thing for an entrepreneur to do. Take this blog for instance. I love sharing my thoughts, ideas, and experience, but it’s not always easy to pick up the laptop and bang out an article. Actually, it can be downright difficult, which is why most blogs have a short shelf life and probably why Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds. If you want to become successful, you need to stay the course. To stay the course, you need to constantly stay inspired, even if it is only a quick burst to get you through the next task. The following five things (in no particular order), inspire and fire me up:

1. Listening to good music: This might seem like an obvious one, but that’s because it is. Not only is it obvious, but music is incredibly powerful. It has made people kill before, and fall in love, and with some songs, both at the same time. So why couldn’t music help get your creative juices flowing? When you have some free time, put together three playlists for three different moods (amped, mellow, and bored) of songs that just rock your world. As I write this, I am listening to Daft Punk’s “Harder, Faster, Stronger.” The next track coming up is “Sea Legs” by the Shins. This article flows quickly and words come easily.

2. Reading: There is nothing like reading a good article to help put things in perspective. While I love reading great books, l look for the quick inspiration in a magazine article. Nothing should fire you up more as an entrepreneur than reading about an amazing success story. Recently, I picked up the latest issue of Inc. and read an article about the founder and CEO of Zappos.com. I had recently been on this kick of how to continue to improve the mobileStorm culture and after reading about what Tony Hsieh did with his company, it truly inspired me to approach culture from a different angle. I like to keep articles like this around that I can quickly access when I need a jump start. Bookmark a bunch of great articles and store them in a folder called “clear!”.

3. Checking out the competition: If this doesn’t light a fire under your ass, nothing will. Don’t just check out any competitor–study the one you admire the most. There is a company in my space (I won’t mention any names) who just gets it. They have made their service incredibly easy to use and understand. They also have a ton of resources and articles for the small business owner. I always seem to work really hard two minutes after leaving their site.

4. Calling friends or family: I hope everyone has a family member or a friend he can lean on. Having a good conversation with someone who believes in you can really lift your spirits, especially when it is coming from someone you admire. I am blessed with a number of high-profile businessmen who are sincere about my success, and a wife who always knows how to make me feel special.

5. Thinking about a future product: I love imagining what my new website will look like, or how our next version of software will function. Your imagination can run so wild, it would give your product manager a heart attack. The best part about daydreaming is that there are no boundaries. I love to start thinking about features that are not possible to develop anytime soon. I think about how they would work and how many big deals I could close as a result. It definitely gets the juices flowing and fires me up for the future.